Gregory under investigation, out of headlines

12/31/12 11:56 AM EST

Last Friday, NBC's David Gregory was making headlines as the subject of a D.C. police investigation after having displayed an empty gun magazine on live television. Later that day, NBC announced that Gregory had landed an exclusive interview with President Obama, and the issue more or less went away.

Gregory remains under investigation, a Washington Metropolitan Police Department official today told POLITICO, but the story seems like a distant memory.

For many, it was a ridiculous story from the start — the weed that grew from a holiday news drought. News anchors and media critics voiced disdain for the story on Twitter, The Wall Street Journal's conservative editorial board called it "entirely nonsensical," even the president of the National Rifle Association called it "silly." But for some right-wing bloggers and pundits, the idea that Gregory could be exempt from established gun laws was evidence of liberal media hypocrisy.

Those who argue that the investigation is ludicrous have a point: Showing an empty gun magazine on television, though illegal in Washington, D.C., was hardly going to harm anyone. As Fox News anchor Greta Van Susteren wrote, it's hard to think of a sillier use of investigative resources.

But it's also hard to blame the other side for asking that laws be upheld and applied to all — especially at a time when so many in the media seem to be pushing for more of those laws.

The Gregory investigation may have started as a "non-story," but that's no longer the case. There are some folks on the right who still care about the outcome, and are ready to cite it as precedent if it goes Gregory's way.